The Fertility Center of Orlando was earlier sued by a couple alleging their new baby is not genetically related to them
Credit: Courtesy of Steven Mills; FOX 35 Orlando/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Couple Tiffany Score and Steven Mills earlier filed a lawsuit against Fertility Center of Orlando after welcoming a baby in 2025 who they claimed is not genetically related to them
- The clinic was also served with a lawsuit in March by a surrogate who alleged she gave birth to a baby with a genetic disorder
- The center announced on its website that it was shutting down but offered no reason behind the closure
A Florida-based IVF clinic announced its closure not long after it was sued by a couple who claimed the baby they welcomed last year is not genetically related to them.
“After thoughtful consideration, Fertility Center of Orlando will be closing its operations,” the company said on its website.
“Patients are welcomed and encouraged to transition their care to CNY Fertility,” the center continued, recommending another clinic. “CNY Fertility is committed to supporting your continuity of care. You will continue to see many of the same trusted and familiar faces who have been part of your care team, along with additional team members committed to supporting you on your journey."
Florida Today reported that the IVF clinic IVF Life Inc., which was doing business as the Fertility Center of Orlando, will change ownership on May 1, as revealed by the clinic’s attorney during a Monday, March 30, court hearing.
The attorney did not disclose the new owner but said all IVF Life clients would be notified of the ownership change by letters sent out by the business.
According to a Jan. 9 lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE, Tiffany Score and husband Steven Mills turned to Dr. Milton McNichol and the center in Longwood, Fla., — both named in their complaint, which was previously covered by PEOPLE before the couple's names were made public — for help starting a family.
Together, the couple were able to produce and store three viable embryos.
In April 2025, Score was allegedly implanted with what she thought was one of those embryos, a process the couple never questioned throughout her pregnancy.
She and her husband registered for diapers and nursing pads like millions of other excited first-time expectant parents — and on Dec. 11, the couple welcomed their baby, naming her Shea Score Mills.
Immediately, however, the couple, who are both White, saw the baby didn’t look like either of them.
“It is obvious,” Jack Scarola, an attorney for the couple, told PEOPLE at the time.
Genetic testing undertaken by the couple allegedly proved that Shea is not biologically related to either Score or Mills, according to Scarola, as well as the lawsuit.
Although the couple said it's a joy to parent “a beautiful, healthy baby girl whom we love more than words can express,” they also feel like they have “a moral obligation to find her genetic parents."
“Our joy over her birth is further complicated by the devastating reality that her genetic parents—whom we do not yet know—or possibly another family entirely, may have received the child we conceived," Score and Mills claimed in a statement earlier obtained by PEOPLE. "We are heartbroken, devastated, and confused."
Simultaneously, Score and Mills said they were concerned that their daughter could be taken from them at any time and given to her biological parents — a worry they say “is almost unbearable.”
By taking legal action, the couple said they hope that they can "begin living more freely and to finally celebrate the one beautiful thing that has come from all of this: our daughter. Shea is completely innocent and so undeserving of any of this.”
Credit: Courtesy of Steven Mills
News of the lawsuit — and the release of a photo of Score and Mills with baby Shea — drew media attention, and attorney Scarola said, "There are multiple families who believe that they might be genetically related to Shea."
Scarola said his law firm received calls from people wondering if they might be baby Shea’s parents, or if the children they welcomed through IVF are genetically theirs. They were told to contact the clinic and were advised that genetic testing is the only way to know for certain.
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The court directed the clinic to first offer free genetic testing to patients who underwent implantation in April 2025 when Score did, according to Scarola.
One couple was currently awaiting results, and a lawyer for the clinic told the judge that results should be in by the first week of March, Scarola told PEOPLE.
The center was served with another lawsuit in March by a woman who became a surrogate, NBC News reported. She alleged that she didn’t understand what she was agreeing to, due to her history of mental illness. The suit said the woman gave birth to a baby with a genetic disorder, and the baby died shortly after birth.
According to the litigation, the woman alleged that the center should have known about the increased risks for a surrogate carrying a fetus with birth defects, WKMG reported.
The Fertility Center of Orlando and Scarola did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
In a message on its website that has since been deleted, the center said it was "actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them," the Orlando Sentinel reported on Jan. 29.
In the announcement about its closure, the Fertility Center of Orlando advised those with cryopreserved reproductive specimens in storage can transfer them to CNY Fertility or to another licensed facility— and that arrangements for the transfer of the specimens must be completed prior to April 15.
“We are grateful for the trust you have placed in Fertility Center of Orlando and are honored to have been part of your journey,” the announcement concluded.
Additional reporting by Amy Eskind.
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